The absence of the National Team squad from the Fours Head and no Oxford Brookes or Leander in this event mean that the Championship Coxless Fours is a wide-open event for many clubs. This event also offers an opportunity for the club rowing scene of the UK to demonstrate its strength with only Imperial and the Cambridge Lightweights from academic institutions.
Tyrian Club
As University of London’s alumni club, Tyrian Club are able to draw from the talented group produced by the southern powerhouse. This crew is a key example of this, seeded to lead the pack and the nominal ‘A’ crew across the entire event they have a depth of talent. The provisional crew list says this crew contains half of the University of London crew which won the Prince Albert Challenge Cup in 2021. This group of recent graduates, returning to their old home on the Tideway will be excited to give it another smash down the tideway and have the pedigree on board to perform very well.
London Rowing Club
On their home water London Rowing Club are boating two crews at this event. Last season was a rather successful one for the London men’s squad with two crews reaching at least the Semi Finals at the Henley Royal Regatta and many of these athletes are returning to continue rowing at London this season. The ‘B’ crew for this event provisionally contains three of the Britannia Challenge Cup coxed four that made it to the semi-final, where they pushed eventual winners Thames to within a length. The ‘C’ crew contains the remainder of that line up in combination with one of the crew from the Visitors Challenge Cup alongside one quarter of the victorious Wyfold Challenge Cup crew. On home water, these crews will be hard to stop given their extensive racing experience as well as knowing the tideway well, London will be hoping that these crews will be able to achieve their first men’s elite victory at the fours head since 2001.
Thames Rowing Club
Thames Rowing Club have been the class of British Club Rowing in recent years, and while they still haven’t achieved the clean sweep of the club events at Henley, they have a squad bursting with talent. Three of the crew entered here won their events at the Henley Royal Regatta in July, with the remaining crew member having just returned from rowing in the first eight at Dartmouth College. This crew already has strong experience racing on the Tideway this Autumn, containing the first and fifth placed Championship Pairs from the Pairs Head. This embarrassment of riches from the squad, when combined with racing on home water means that retuning to the boathouse with anything less than victory in this field would be a disappointment.
Imperial College
The only local academic institution racing in the Championship Coxless Fours division, Imperial College have had an up and down time in recent years. Their priority boat this year at Henley Royal Regatta was a Prince Albert Challenge Cup four made it to the semi-finals, but the Temple Challenge Cup Eight fell on Tuesday morning. These results are not what has been historically expected by Imperial, especially having reached the final of the Temple Challenge Cup just two years ago. This crew combines two of the Temple crew with one from the Prince Albert crew, and will be hoping to give a performance more reminiscent of the latter as they race down the Championship Course.
Cambridge University
With Oxford men opting to stay in Wallingford and the Cambridge Heavyweights sticking to the coxed fours, the only boat race representation in this event is the Cambridge University lightweight group. As the united CUBC squad is returning off the back of a flawless set of Boat Race results, the pressure on each individual squad to not be the one to let the university down will be immense. The crews in this event do not seem to be the top end of the Lightweight squad but are by no means slouches as the ‘N’ crew is made up of four athletes who have all been in the top lightweight boat in one of the last three years, while the ‘P’ crew has two of last year’s victorious squad. With no Oxford crews to compare themselves with they will be aiming to get as high up the results list as possible against the local clubs.
Predictions
The Thames juggernaut has only grown over the off season, as they have drawn even more of the nation’s top athletes to their talented squad; I can’t see anyone beating them to this event win. The best of the rest will likely come from either London Rowing Club or the Tyrian crew.
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